[The content of Hb in blood and proteins, Fe, Fe-binding capacity, Cu and Zn in the blood plasma of sows and their piglets at the time of birth, after the uptake of colostrum and with different Fe supply].

: Keeping of piglets on slatted metal floor, without complementary iron supply, caused anaemia within seven days from parturition. Hb levels in the blood dropped from 7.00 +/- 1.16 to 3.47 +/- 0.74 mmol/l. Iron deficit reduced growth and vitality. The iron levels in blood plasma of the piglets tested varied between 5 and 35 mumol/l, immediately after parturition. Intraperitoneal or oral administration of Fe-dextran (150 mg Fe) on the first day after parturition resulted in physiological iron levels in blood plasma, after seven days. Yet, when 14 days had passed, the levels were similar to those recorded from piglets without additional iron supply. Iron bonding capacity of blood plasma increased in piglets of all groups up to the seventh day from birth. Death occurred, on the second day of age, to many piglets with protein levels below 50 g/l plasma. Copper levels in blood plasma of newborn piglets were below those recordable from sows, but they went up by more than three times of their original values up to the seventh day from birth. In piglets, zinc, levels of blood plasma after parturition were higher than those of sows and went up by some 50 percent, within seven days from birth.